I would like to teach my children (3 & 6 years of age) to be able to identify plants. They can remember brands and logos, they should be able to remember the shapes of leaves and plants. We spent an hour in the backyard practicing this week.
I am always looking for fun ways to incorporate identification into backyard play. I saw an idea on Pinterest to make prints with leaves. We took it a step further and labeled the prints when they were dry.
First we went on a leaf hunt and gathered leaves of different shapes and sizes. Then we got out some finger paint and paper.
I grabbed some wipes for afterwards and let the kids get messy.
When both the paper and the leaves were dry, the kids matched them up and labeled the paper.
Here are some more ideas:
Learn to Identify Poisonous Plants in Florida
FloridianNature.com has 3 pages with photos of common poisonous Florida plants.
The Tree Identification Guide at arborday.org is a great site!!!
Off to pick some tomatoes in the garden!
Thanks, Bee
Posted by daisy on March 17, 2013 at 6:30 am
Great activity!
Posted by Bee Busby on March 17, 2013 at 10:20 pm
Thanks. It was fun!
Posted by Dawn Schneiderman on March 17, 2013 at 5:13 pm
What a cute idea to do with your kids Bee. Thanks for the link to the Floridian site. I have Allamanda growing in my back yard, but my kids are almost men now. One very dangerous plant to have in a yard with kids is Oleander. Even inhaling the smoke from burning this shrub can make you very sick. We dug the Oleander up when we moved into our house. I was afraid two little boys would break sticks off to play with and the sticks would end up in their mouths (you know, boys being boys, and all that).
Posted by Bee Busby on March 17, 2013 at 10:20 pm
Yes, what a good idea to dig it up! I would be worried with boys as well.
I have lilies and a few a caladiums around the yard but we discuss it and the girls have been great about listening and learning. I dug up my angel trumpets though. They were too tempting to touch.